Basketball, Listed

A dedication to basketball history, catalogued and presented in convenient list form.

Past lives: 10 notable National Basketball League (NBL) franchises that didn’t make it to the 1949 NBA merger

While former NBL franchises the Lakers, Kings, Hawks, Pistons, and 76ers endure in the NBA, these 10 teams were left in the dustbin of history when the league dissolved in 1949 to merge with the BAA

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1) Akron Firestone Non-Skids

Founded in 1935 as the Midwest Basketball Conference, the NBL was the brainchild of grocery store magnate Frank Kautsky and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company executive Paul Sheeks. Both men managed works teams, barnstorming squads made up of employees from their respective companies, and were seeking a more stable arrangement. Sheeks’ squad was called the Non-Skids, named after Firestone’s signature auto tire product, dominated the NBL in the late ’30s, making four consecutive semifinals appearances and winning back-to-back titles in 1939 and 1940. They were also an excellent test case for Firestone to highlight rubber as an ideal product for basketball shoes as well as car tires, personified in one of their star players, footwear innovator Chuck Taylor. Despite their success, the Non-Skids were forced to disband in 1941 as the U.S. World War II effort overwhelmed extracurricular company activities.

2) Akron Goodyear Wingfoots

Basketball in Akron, Ohio is now synonymous with hometown hero LeBron James but decades before the birth of “The King,” the Rust Belt city was the center of the sport’s universe. For four consecutive years in the late ’30s, the NBL title was won by a team from Akron, with the Goodyear Wingfoots victorious in 1937 and 1940. A crosstown rival of the Firestone Non-Skids, the Wingfoots similarly started off as a works team for a rubber tire company. Founded in 1918, they joined the MBC in 1936, and won the championship in their inaugural season, folded in 1942 with the available player pool dwindling due to World War II, then re-emerged in 1947, playing now in the newly formed National Industrial Basketball League (NIBL). Reverting to semi-pro status, the Wingfoots also later represented the U.S. multiple times in the ’60s in the FIBA Club World Cup. While Goodyear eventually ceased their promotion of the Wingfoots, the company returned to pro basketball in 2017 with a sponsorship of the Cavaliers.

3) Fort Wayne General Electrics

Founded by Thomas Edison in 1889, the General Electric company has held an eclectic mix of interests over the years, from aviation to computer manufacturing to television and radio stations to a basketball team. Started as an industrial team made up of GE employees, the Fort Wayne General Electrics began play in 1935. Their home games took place at the North Side High School Gym, which later played host to the Fort Wayne Pistons for several NBA seasons. The General Electrics ultimately lasted just two seasons in the NBL but came close to a championship in 1937, albeit largely due to luck. After sneaking into the playoffs with a .500 record, the General Electrics pulled off a bizarre semifinals round upset over the Dayton Metropolitans, which forfeited during the series for reasons still unknown. The General Electrics were defeated by the Wingfoots in the championship round, played just one more season, then folded. GE did maintain its Fort Wayne factory for a long time, ultimately closing operations in 2016.

4) Dayton Rens

One year after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, the Dayton Rens made history by fielding an all-Black lineup in the NBL. Not that this was anything new for either the Rens or the NBL. The league was the first major basketball operation to include Black players, a necessity in 1942 as World War II thinned out the player pool. As for the Rens, they were originally a Black-owned, legendary barnstorming team based in Harlem, New York. Struggling financially, the NBL invited the popular Rens to join the league halfway through the ’48-’49 season and they accepted. There were two conditions working against the Rens, one their forced relocation to Dayton and two, inheriting the 2-17 record of the team they replaced, the folding Detroit Vagabond Kings. The Rens finished the season 16-43 and despite their history of success, were not included in the subsequent merger with the BAA, folding soon after. Rens center Hank DeZonie later signed with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, becoming the fourth Black player in NBA history.

5) Chicago Bruins
6) Chicago Studebaker Flyers
7) Chicago American Gears

The Chicago Bulls are an NBA institution but prior to that, the Windy City had a long history of pro basketball franchise failures. The Chicago Stags folded after just four NBA seasons, and the Chicago Packers packed up and left town after just two, becoming the Baltimore Bullets (now Washington Wizards). Three NBL teams gave it a try in Chicago and none lasted long. The Bruins were the first, founded by Chicago Bears owner George Halas in 1925. They played six seasons in the ABL without a playoff appearance, folded in 1931, reconstituted in 1939 to join the NBL, then were purchased by the United Auto Workers in 1942 and renamed as the Chicago Studebaker Flyers. The roster was completely overhauled, with six former Harlem Globetrotters added to break the NBL color barrier. The Flyers’ biggest issue was the lack of a permanent arena, as the Bruins’ home, the 132nd Armory, had been commandeered for the World War II effort. Despite making the 1943 NBL playoffs, the Flyers were one-and-done, folding that subsequent offseason. They were replaced one year later by the Chicago American Gears, a former AAU club founded by local manufacturing company owner Maurice White. The Gears lasted just three seasons but made indelible basketball history as the original pro club of George Mikan, who led them to the 1947 NBL title. Maybe the most surprising entry on this list, the Gears almost assuredly would have been included in the merger if not for owner Maurice White’s failed 1947 attempt at building a new league around his franchise.

8) Detroit Eagles

The Eagles started life in Warren, Pennsylvania in 1926 as the Buckeyes, led by player-coach Gerry Archibald, son of a member of James Naismith’s first basketball team. After a few name changes, a few failed league endeavors, and several relocations, most notably a stint in Cleveland as the White Horses, they became the Detroit Eagles ahead of the ’39-’40 NBL season. Now coached by former barnstorming legend Dutch Dehnert, the Eagles played in the Detroit Armory and were anchored by future NBA stars Ed Sadowski and Buddy Jeannette. The talented squad reached the NBL playoff semifinals in 1940 and 1941 but could not advance further, losing close series against the Akron Firestone Non-Skids and Sheboygan Red Skins, respectively. They were much more successful in the vaunted World Professional Basketball Tournament (WPBT), becoming the first NBL franchise to win it in 1941, thanks to upset wins over the Harlem Globetrotters and New York Rens. Despite their success, the Eagles were soon after forced to fold when their home base was converted into a Navy barracks for World War II.

9) Toledo Jim White Chevrolets

Owned by boxing promoter Sid Goldburg but funded by car dealership owner Jim White (hence the name), the Chevrolets joined the NBL in 1941 and were by far the worst team for their brief time in the league. It was probably a bad omen when the Chevrolets’ first home game, a December 7, 1941 win over the Indianapolis Kautskys, was interrupted briefly by a loudspeaker announcement that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. Toledo actually started the season 3-1 (for the record, their second win was via forfeit), then ended it with a 23-game losing streak to finish dead last at 3-24. The Chevrolets then ceased operations mid-season after starting ’42-’43 with an 0-4 record. But thanks to Goldburg, they managed to make some basketball history along the way. The Chevrolets not only broke the NBL color barrier in 1942 (alongside the Chicago Flyers) they shattered it, signing 10 Black players to the roster as well as Argentinean born Al Alvarez, considered one of the first Latino American pro players.

10) Oshkosh All-Stars

Easily the most successful NBL franchise to not make the 1949 BAA merger, the All-Stars lived up to their moniker, making 11 playoff appearances in 12 seasons, playing in five championship series, and winning back-to-back titles in 1941 and 1942. Based out of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the All-Stars had a decade of experience as a barnstorming team before joining the NBL in 1939. This included a renowned series of games against the New York Rens in 1937 that was dubbed the “World Series of Basketball” and may have been the first major interracial basketball event. Led by three-time league MVP Leroy “Cowboy” Edwards, the All-Stars peaked in 1942, defeating the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in the NBL championship series and winning the World Professional Basketball Tournament. But as the ’40s wore on, the All-Stars increasingly struggled. They relocated to Milwaukee in the summer of 1949 to increase their appeal for the BAA merger but the deal fell through and they were passed over. The All-Stars continued on in lesser pro leagues up until 1951, when they folded after owner Lon Darling passed away from a heart attack.

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